Friendships Toll
by Shadowpoet
Summary: Takato is missing. It had been over a while for the tamers and grade school is well over. Ryo, Rika, and the others try to figure out what happend to Takato, but it's not such an easy task.


Friendship's Toll: Imagination

By Shadowpoet

Author's Note: had this is the pc fer a while. Time to submit

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A flock of birds passed by the blue sky. The white clouds of the morning day. The city's tall buildings covered the view, but the trees from the park helped uncover them. A purple eyed girl looks up at this from a park bench. She lay on it exhausted from her school. Rika Nonaka. Rika had come by to see the hole that Guilmon had dug a long time ago. Was the digital world still connected there? Along the park path was Ryo Akiyama heading back from school. He decided to drop by the park as well.The brown haired boy stopped after he passed Rika. He turned his head slightly to see if it was her. When Ryo figured it was he walked over and smiled at her. Rika squinted at him when he blocked her view. Ryo continued to smile as Rika pushed him out of the way so she could sit up.

"What are you doing here Akiyama?"

"Is it wrong to be here?" Ryo sat next to her.

"Whatever." Rika got up and grabbed her bag. Ryo followed."I'm going home."

"Alright then, see ya." Ryo waived.

"Hey, what _are_ you doing here?" Rika asked again.

Ryo explained how he got curious about the hole. It was only a few days since they had returned. Rika just stood there for a minute wondering his intentions. Finally, she went with him to revisit the place. The both of them climbed the stairs and stopped when they got to the entrance. There sat the hole that they came from. Ryo sighed. He sounded dissapointed. Cyberdramon was his friend and he left him.

"They'll come back." Rika continued to watch the deep hole. Ryo looked at her. She still had hope that the digimon would return. Maybe he should too. Footsteps and chatter drew near. Rika and Ryo began to wonder who it was. A familiar voice cleared their suspicions.

"Oh. Hey you two."Jeri came up. Kazu, Kenta,and Henry came with her. They all really did go back to their own lives. The five of them wore what they always did. But the memory of everything that happend in the digital world still made them different. All of them wondered if Takato had found a way back to the digital world. He did miss Guilmon afterall. But so did they. Would he leave without them?

"Who knows. Maybe he's just depressed at home and doesn't want to get out."Kazu sat on the steps. Rika sat against the gate. Ryo stood next to her. Kenta sat near Kazu and Jeri observed the hole. Henry watched the gate then got up close to it. They all turned to look at what Henry was getting at.

"I think he did find a way." He looked at the gate lock and opened it. The others got up and let him do what he was planning to. Henry walked into the room-like structure. There was nothing different about the place. But he did recall Takato saying that he would visit it. Henry took out his D-arc and waited for a signal. The others stood behind him and watched his effort. But nothing happend. The screen was blank.

"There's a way to get there." Henry walked closer to the hole. Kazu stopped Henry. What if Henry just fell into the hole and the others had to call for rescue. They'd only close the thing. Henry agreed and walked out silently. Rika, by chance, had her digivice with her as well. She took it out and waited for something to come up on the screen. To their theory nothing did.

"How are you so sure that Takato is in the digital world?" Kenta asked as they all walked out of the park. Henry explained that Takato mentioned he would the day before he dissappeared. Jeri had been watching the crowds all the time waiting for him to call out her name. Yet, there was nothing everyday. Kazu and Kenta check the detention records because of the repeated absence. Henry kept looking all over the web.

"I think he's left us." Kenta waited with the others at the crosswalk. Rika sighed and went back to the park. Jeri wondered what she was doing so she asked. Rika claimed that she wanted to check if she left anything. Really, she wanted to see if she could reach Renamon again. Unfortunately something kept them apart. Their different worlds. Now Takato had the chance to see them again. But why only him?

"Stupid Takato. Not even bothering to call us first." Rika mumbled as she walked back with Jeri. But out of the curiousity, the others followed too. The two of them spoke about what happend afterwards. Calumon and Impmon weren't around anymore. That really meant that they were gone. Rika went back to the hideout. Somehow she just felt so compelled on just waiting for Renamon, that she didn't realize that school was in her way as well.

"Rika. What's up? So maybe Takato left without telling any of us, but what else has got you?" Jeri asked when Rika stopped walking. Rika looked up at the hideout not bothering to take a step onto the stairs. The guys lifted their heads from the bushes behind them. Rika was up to something. She mumbled to Jeri that she was gonna go to the digital world and beat the crap out of 'goggle head'.

"But for now we've gotta return home. I'll tell Takato's parents that he might be there." Jeri sighed. Ryo offered that they all went home before it got dark. Their parents might think they might've gone with Takato. Everyone agreed to meet back at the stairs directly afterschool. The skies blue color faded to orange. The tamers made it back wondering about what happend to their friends. Rika removed her shoes and got to the kitchen for a drink. While she was at it she turned the tv on. Coincidentaly, the program was digimon. In the middle of her drink and the show something new came to her mind and immediately called Henry. She had an idea to return to the world with portals, but Henry said he couldn't make that possible.

"I knew nothing would happen." Rika hung up. That night after everyone was asleep, she stared at her digivice waiting for something to happen. As she lowered her D-arc, it began to make a weak signal. Then it stopped when Rika brought it to her eyes. She knew what she heard, it was a signal. Again, she lowered the digivice and again the signal came up. There truly was a signal. Rika left a note for her guardians that she would be back for dinner and ran to the hideout. Thinking that she didn't want to be like Goggle head and leave them out of it, she called all of them on her way there.

"Are you serious?" Henry jumped out of his seat. His family was eating at the time. Henry ran out the door. This may be a chance to see Terriermon again. He got on his bike to catch up with the others. Jeri, Kazu, and Kenta met up with him on the way. Ryo and Rika were heading there too. All of them pedaled as hard as they could just to beat one another there.

"Are you sure about it Rika? What do we do now?"Kenta ran up the stairs. Rika took out her d-arc and told them what happend when they stopped. Ryo opened the gate for them. The dark sky finally took over. All of them revealed their digivices. Would it really happen? Right when they were about to enter, Jeri stopped them all.

"Do we really know if we're going to get there?" Jeri stood before them.

"Of course! We've tried it before, why not now?" Rika asked.

"Because now we have no one to protect us." Jeri sighed. No one spoke for a whille. All of them calmed down. What if something like D-repearsp? came up again? Their digimon weren't there to help them. They all made their way back home ready to explain the situation to their parents. Rika was the last one to walk. Before she went home she took one last look at the hideout. If Takato tried to get back then the same problem would happen.

That night, the digidestined lay quietly on their beds wondering about the digital world. Rika turned around and remembered when Calumon used to bother her by now. Jeri closed her door but glimpsed at her window. Right on her roof she had spoken with Leomon about being partners. Henry lay on his bed and thought about how Suzie is playing without Terriermon around. She always played with him. Kazu, Kenta, and Ryo also couldn't help thinking about their digimon as well.

Everything was confusing. If they were reunited with their digimon, then would everything be as it used to? Defeating other digimon until another big thing happens? Rika couldn't stand the thinking before she went to sleep so she got up and opened her door slightly. She stared at the moonlit floor and remembered her partner..her best friend.

'_The moon is out. Plain bright from the dark night. If you were here you'd love this sight. Sitting here just staring at the sky. What is she doing now I wonder? Takato might be in her world right now. Not even bothering to tell us anything. That stupid goggle-head. Hmm...I can't envy him...at least I have a stronger Digimon.'_

That night Jeri had a disturbing dream. First was the scene of Leomon being killed in front of her. The other was him coming back. she was happy, but then his message was different. He told her to forget about the digimon. To get over it and move on to other things. Jeri, still in her pjs, tried to talk more on the subject, but had woken up.

'_Forget about Digimon? How can I forget everything that happend? Leomon. It's hard to let go of the things that we all have done. But the only thing that keeps me wondering is why? Does he really want us to move on?...I'll never forget them.'_

Ryo got to his bed and fell asleep. He was definitely wondering about this digimon. All of them had questions. No one had answers. The next morning they all woke up and got to school. Their hopes of seeing their digimon one more time were quickly fading. Ryo had to go to his own school of course. That meant he wouldn't see the others for a while. He looked out the window to check the weather. It was raining.

Looking to the side of the opposite sidewalk, Ryo thinks he sees Cyberdramon. Ryo evidently continues to stare at the figure. Unfortunately, they were on opposite sides of traffic. It wasn't until the signal turned to green that Ryo had the urge to go across the street. Every car that passed by made Ryo worry if his digimon was just an illusion. But he wasn't. He stood there waiting.

"Cyberdramon!" Ryo got on the road. He kept running to what he kept on thinking was Cyberdramon. As he got closer, Rika saw him from another street. Ryo was in the middle of the road. Rika quickly made her bike go to his direction. Because she was on a bike, more motorists but be able to stop in time. Time slowed down for the both of them. Rika had her arm outstretched ready to grab Ryo while Ryo was ready to jump onto the other end of the walk.

"Ryo! What the hell are you doing!" Rika made a grab for him. She got the collar of his shirt and tried to continue pedaling. Ryo snapped out of it and looked at who was tugging him.

"Rika!"

She let him go. There was something coming the opposite way. Ryo landed on the sidewalk while Rika flew. He got up and watched her body go up in the air. Before she fell, Ryo ran to her. Fortunately he caught her in time. She was knocked out and her bike was totalled. He ran to the nearest hospital and waited for her in the waiting room.

"Cyberdramon." he whispered. Jeri and Henry came up first. They ask him what happend. Ryo's explanation only made them wonder even more.

"Whatever you saw, you really put your life out there." Henry stood before Ryo's seat.

"Even if you saw Cyberdramon, you should have still used the crosswalk at least." Jeri told him. She sat next to him with a worried look. When she asked if her mom knew Ryo closed his eyes and didn't open them for a while. That only meant that he hadn't brought the news to her family yet. There was no result of how she was now anyway.

'_It's like one of those predictablw stories. Someone saves one person in the middle of the road. Then the rescuer just gets hurt anyway._' Ryo sighed. '_What's the point to the story if that's how it always is?_'

Deep in his thoughts, Ryo only heard silence. He remembered when he had a conversation about the digimon with Rika that one day. Under the blue sky. Beneath the white clouds of that morning. She was comforting to talk to. Underneath all the things that she does or say, she truly hides her soft side. That's when he remembered about the night.

"I remember two nights ago..." Jeri interrupted his thinkning."...that I had a dream. Leomon came to me and told me to forget them."

"Takato and the digimon?" Ryo asked.

"No." Jeri didn't look up."Digimon. All of them. I got so lost about that dream."

"Ironic isn't it?" Ryo chuckled."The moment I see Cyberdramon, Rika gets hurt."

'_How could it be though? Was I just imagining things when I saw him?_' Ryo sighed. '_If that was fake, then why couldn't this be fake as well?'_

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Eh... like what I got so far? I'm gonna make a second chap..


End file.
